Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 110 Part 2.djvu/863

This page needs to be proofread.

PUBLIC LAW 104-182—AUG. 6, 1996 110 STAT. 1655 "(B) the State, considering the hydrogeology of the area and other relevant factors, determines in writing that the contaminant is unhkely to be detected by further monitoring during such period. " (2) TERMINATION; TIMING OF MONITORING.—The interim relief period referred to in paragraph (1) shall terminate when permanent monitoring relief is adopted and approved for such State, or at the end of 36 months after the date of enactment of the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, whichever comes first. In order to serve as a basis for interim relief, the monitoring conducted at the beginning of the period must occur at the time determined by the State to be the time of the public water system's greatest vulnerability to the contaminant concerned in the relevant ground or surface water, taking into account in the case of pesticides the time of application of the pesticide for the source water area and the travel time for the pesticide to reach such waters and taking into account, in the case of other contaminants, seasonality of precipitation and contaminant travel time. i " (b) PERMANENT MONITORING RELIEF AUTHORITY.— "(1) IN GENERAL.— Each State exercising primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems under this title and having an approved source water assessment program may adopt, in accordance with guideince published by the Administrator, tailored alternative monitoring requirements for public water systems in such State (as an alternative to the monitoring requirements for chemical contaminants set forth in the applicable national primary drinking water regulations) where the State concludes that (based on data available at the time of adoption concerning susceptibility, use, occurrence, or wellhead protection, or from the State's drinking water source water assessment program) such alternative monitoring would provide assurance that it complies with the Administrator's guidelines. The State program must be adequate to assure compliance with, and enforcement of, applicable nationgd primary drinking water regulations. Alternative monitoring shall not apply to regulated microbiological contaminants (or indicators thereof), disinfectants and disinfection b3rproducts, or corrosion b)T)roducts. The preceding sentence is not intended to limit other authority of the Administrator under other provisions of this title to grant monitoring flexibility. " (2) GUIDELINES.— "(A) IN GENERAL. — The Administrator shall issue, after notice and comment and at the same time as guidelines are issued for source water assessment under section 1453, guidelines for States to follow in proposing alternative monitoring requirements under paragraph (1) for chemical contaminants. The Administrator shall pulslish such guide- Federal Register, lines in the Federal Register. The guidelines shall assure publication, that the public health will be protected from drinking water contamination. The guidelines shall require that a State alternative monitoring program apply on a contaminantby-contaminant basis and that, to be eligible for such alternative monitoring program, a public water system must show the State that the contaminant is not present in the drinking water supply or, if present, it is reliably and consistently below the maximum contaminant level.